Target: Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Goal: Work to end gender-based violence and oppression within Afghanistan.
They were arrested in the streets, in shops, and in their homes. Then they were taken to detention centers surrounded by other individuals who had committed the same “offense.” Once alone with guards, they claimed torture, horrific beatings, and sexual assaults. And within days of their detentions, many had taken their own lives, discovered by devastated family members.
What were the grave offenses of these Afghan women? They didn’t wear their head coverings the “right” way. One of the more recent dictates of the oppressive Taliban regime mandates that every woman in the country cover her entire face and head, save for her eyes. Even the smallest breach has reportedly resulted in the aforementioned horrors.
How has the world’s foremost proponent of human rights responded? The United Nations (UN) merely called the litany of allegations “concerning.” And the agency recently hosted the Taliban at a conference on Afghanistan, with the topic of women’s rights apparently nowhere on the agenda.
Sign the petition below to demand the UN do more to stand up for women who are enduring inexcusable oppression daily.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Director-General Azoulay,
Rape, torture, beatings, suicide: since the end of last year, women in Afghanistan have reportedly faced these atrocities in ever-increasing numbers because of supposed “bad hijab” practices. In response, the UN has only referred to these reports as “concerning.” But apparently the allegations were not concerning enough to keep this organization from inviting the Taliban to a conference, nor were they concerning enough to prevent UN leaders from agreeing not to discuss the most urgent issue in Afghanistan today: the deterioration of women’s rights.
What hope are you giving a sizeable portion of this nation’s population when you essentially say through your actions — or inaction — that their pain and their voices do not matter? Please do better for them and for all women. Take the Taliban to task in every manner for its ongoing oppression and its rampant gender-based violence.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Warren Bradley
